The NBA Has Its First Openly Gay, Non-Retired Basketball Player

Most people accepted Jason Collins, the first openly gay American male currently participating in professional sports in America, with open arms today after his announcement through Sports Illustrated.

“I wouldn’t label myself an activist,” he wrote. “I just see myself as someone who wants to live his life genuinely.”

Collins, now 34, played for Stanford alongside his identical twin brother Jarron until 2001, when he was drafted by the Nets. He has also played for the Wizards, Hawks, Celtics and Grizzlies.

Others called his career “unremarkable,” didn’t care, or, in the case of ESPN’s Chris Broussard, said he and every other gay person is “walking in open rebellion to God” and “living in unrepentant sin.”
In the exclusive issue, Collins writes that he knew he was gay for forever, but kept telling himself the sky was red when he “always knew it was blue.”